ABSTRACT

From Nazareth by a direct road is [l one goes along an uneven road for ten leagues to] Sabastiyya (Sebastia), which was once called Samaria, in which the body of St John the Baptist was buried between the prophets Obadiah and Elisha,18 having been translated from the town of Machærus (Macheronta), which is beyond the Jordan, where he was beheaded. Four miles from Sebaste is the city of Nāblus (Neapolis), formerly called Shechem (Sichem) after Shechem, the son of Hamor,19 [l or Sychar (Sichar) as is read in the gospel.20] In it were buried the bones of Joseph, son of Jacob, [34] brought from Egypt. There also is [l Jacob’s] well, above which Jesus sat, tired from the journey, and asked for a drink from the Samaritan woman.21 There also are two hills or mountains, that is to say, Dan and Bethel, on which Jereboam, king of Israel, placed the golden calves and ordered them to be worshipped, saying, ‘Behold your gods, O Israel, who led you out of Egypt.’22